Danielle Steers - The Future Aint What It Used to Be

[proctorloaf]

Hi Folks,

There's a new album by original cast member of Bat out of Hell the Musical - Danielle Steers called The Future Aint What It Used to Be and it is AWESOME.

I love it - fresh new takes at some of Jim's greatest hits and deep cuts.

Track list:

The Future Aint What it Used to Be
Rock and Roll Dreams
Lost Boys and Golden Girls
Safe Sex
Two out of Three
Surf's Up
Total Eclipse
Holding out for a Hero
Bad for Good

What a treat for 2021!

Have you heard it? What do you think?

[Lee B]

Thanks for this. I thought she had the best voice out of everyone in the cast, so I'll definitely try and catch this

[Danny L]

Apparantly on the way.

Some unexpected song choices there, looking forward to it

[nightinr]

This is great news...Danielle has a great voice. Is this only available from her website or is it available from any other outlet?

Always intrigued how these albums happen.....does Steinman personally give permission?

[PanicLord]

Very intrigued, where did you listen to it?

From memory, Jim wouldn't need to give permission as once something is released you can cover it. However you would have to pay licencing fees for the songs and as I understand it, Jim is pretty expensive... quality costs ;)

[proctorloaf]

I bought the CD - I've been waiting for it since it was announced last year! It is coming out digitally but they are doing it all themselves so learning as they go.
I think that licensing is pretty easy these days - the record/publishing companies control it.

[letsgotoofar]

Licensing is especially easy when the songs have already been recorded and released previously.

[MarkS]

Not a huge fan of what they did with “future” but excited to hear the rest, especially a new version of surfs up

[letsgotoofar]

Not a huge fan of "Future" either. Sounds a little too optimistic an arrangement for a song with a certain degree of finality about it, given the lyrics about bad times following someone mercilessly, a storm that's never-ending, and a shadow on the land and the sea, at one point outright stating that tomorrow has gone bad.

Also curious to hear how "Surf's Up" works for a woman, since it was written as one of Jim's "boner lines." That's the whole pun -- surf's up, and so am I. (A Steinman fan's wife once revised it to "Surf's Wet" for a fan tribute album, which is one way to solve the problem, I suppose.)

[jmfreeman]

Also curious to hear how "Surf's Up" works for a woman, since it was written as one of Jim's "boner lines." That's the whole pun -- surf's up, and so am I. (A Steinman fan's wife once revised it to "Surf's Wet" for a fan tribute album, which is one way to solve the problem, I suppose.)

The tide's going down, and so am I?

[MarkS]

Not a huge fan of "Future" either. Sounds a little too optimistic an arrangement

I think you pretty well nailed my thoughts on it here, I couldn't put my finger on it at first, but you are right. It is too upbeat for a song that is basically a downer

[Michael Marxen]

I like her brave approach!

[PanicLord]

Future... like it. It loses some of the emotional heft. Songs like this always make me think of Dreamgirls... this is the disco cover of a song with tons of meaning. Fun and refreshing to hear a completely new take.

Rock n roll dreams... Nice, a bit like the musical version but without the campy vamping piano.

Lost Boys... lots of feels in this soulful bluesy take. Reminds me of Post Modern Jukebox lol. I liked it for being different and showing there are fresh ways of presenting these songs out there.

Safe Sex... not sure about this one. I'm not sure this is a strong enough song not to turn it up to 11 and go over the top with. It's well done but just didn't really do it for me.

Eclipse... I guess the problem here is that the original is iconic and essentially perfect. So you can't do it better. Can you match it though? Not really. But again it's a nice fresh take that replaces some of the fireworks with tenderness. Decent but not as good as the original.

Hero - bouncy chirpy rocky update, rather like this. The production on the original always felt a bit thin to me. Seemed a bit like If the Sittings Zutons did a cover. Fun and worthy of repeat listens.

Bad For Good... like it. Again loses some of the opera but good dramatic rock and great vocal. Suffers from being shorter.

Two Out Of Three... loved it. Protection stripped down but emotions amped up. Superb version. Voice put me in mind of Cher in a few places. Now there's an idea 💡


Surf's Up... beautiful love it, shows that even a lesser known song is stunningly romantic even if it's about a boner. This time round it's more of a semi but just as good for it. Tender and loving. Slow and gentle. Sometimes, just what the doctor ordered.

Overall Bravo great job of covering some huge songs, I look forward to the second album!

[loaferman61]

Too bad she doesn't have a download option. It appears that in the USA it will be expensive to ship. I'd definitely pay like $10 for a download, especially in FLAC.